Accused I-96 shooter says 'demons' haunted him

Jan. 27, 2014
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Raulie Casteel took the stand on Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in the Livingston County Circuit Court in Michigan in his trial in connection with the Interstate 96 corridor shootings. / Livingston County (Mich.) Press & Argus

To ease his anxiety, he testified Monday, he pulled out his 9 mm gun - kept unholstered on the floorboard by his legs - and shot at 23 passing vehicles in October 2012 in four counties along the I-96 corridor.

Speaking in a monotone and with little emotion, Casteel took the stand in his own defense in Livingston County Circuit Court, where he is on trial on charges of terrorism, assault with intent to murder and felony firearms. The case is expected to go to the jury on Tuesday.

The 44-year-old Wixom, Mich., man said "long lines of traffic coming at me" created anxiety about people following or monitoring him. He also said he interpreted "coded messages" he received from the Detroit Tigers "to mean shooting at cars."

"To my way of thinking, at the time, (shooting) was to get rid of the demons, so to speak, the fear, the anxiety," Casteel told the jury.

But Assistant Attorney General Gregory Townsend pressed Casteel about whether he knew his actions could terrorize or harm someone. Casteel said he may have been trying to send a message to the government to back off.

"You knew that shooting into a vehicle could certainly hurt somebody, isn't that true? You knew that," Townsend asked.

"In hindsight, yes," Casteel replied.

Mental health history

Casteel outlined for the jury his mental illness history, which he said went undiagnosed. He said it dates to 2009, when he felt he was being blackballed from finding employment in Kentucky and Michigan, and when "my phone calls were monitored."

Casteel said he would drive two hours from his home in Louisville, Ky., to Indianapolis to seek mental health treatment because he didn't want his treatment compromised by the people listening to his phone conversations. He couldn't say who was monitoring him, but believed it was the U.S. Army.

Casteel said he also believed military helicopters were hovering over his Kentucky home and expressed concern for "advanced technologies" in his home that caused his wife to miscarry twice and his daughter to develop a skin disease.

"It sounds crazy," he said.

Now, he said, medication for his delusional disorder helps him realize the helicopters weren't real and he wasn't the victim of a conspiracy.

In October, Casteel pleaded no contest but mentally ill to multiple felonies in Oakland County. He faces sentencing Thursday in that case, but it could be delayed if the jury is still deliberating.

An agreement calls for Casteel to receive a sentence of no more than 12 years in prison.

Questioning his motive

Casteel was arrested Nov. 5, 2012, after a motorist was able to describe his car and provide investigators with a partial license plate.

In his opening statement, Townsend told the jury the case is about fear and intimidation. Monday, he pressed Casteel to admit he'd known what he was doing.

"You have a gun. You know what a gun can do, is that correct?" Townsend asked. "You shot target practice and you shot at things so you knew what a bullet could do, correct? So when you shot at a car you knew it could hit someone and it could kill them, correct?"

In a voice barely audible, Casteel replied, "Yes" to each question.

Townsend continued: "The bullets you have are steel jacketed, correct? ... They are round at the top and not hollow point. You know that those can penetrate steel, is that correct?"

"Yes," Casteel said.

Casteel admitted he shot at Jennifer Kupiec's Cadillac on I-96 in Livingston County in October 2012. She earlier testified that she heard a sound and later discovered a bullet hole in the back door handle on the driver's side.

Shooting at her car, Casteel said, was a decision made in seconds because "anxiety set in and fear."

"At the time, I can't say I had any thoughts of murder," he said. "It was never my intent to murder. ... Terrorizing the government, terrorizing the people, that never crossed my mind."

Case goes to the jury

Both sides rested Monday, and the case resumes Tuesday in Judge David Reader's courtroom. Reader must decide whether the jury will receive a special instruction regarding diminished capacity.

The prosecution wants the judge to tell the jury that Michigan law doesn't recognize diminished capacity as a defense. The defense says Casteel acknowledges he had "the capacity to fire a gun," but didn't have the intent - an element the prosecution must prove under the law.

Diminished capacity claims a defendant was unable to form specific intent required to commit a crime under the law by reason of mental illness, and as a result, the defendant's responsibility in the alleged crime is diminished. The judge earlier ruled that the defense could not make the argument because it failed to give proper notice of a defense of insanity.